Great, Just Great, Now The ACBS Is Even Using Our Typos!

The New 2019 Membership Book.

Typos. I am the king of them. We even have a dictionary on the topic in the ABOUT section. In some ways it’s the only unique thing left for us here at WoodyBoater. And since the ACBS seems to be on a borrowing mission these days with their Brass Rudder Bell magazine, they are now even using our typos. Really? Come on!

The two big winners are switched. It should be Be 1929 30′ Hacker Craft Runabout with a 225 HP 6 cylinder Sterling Petrel
Owner – Mark Moulton, North Muskegon, MI. -TOP and  MIDDLE – 1961 21′ Chris-Craft Continental with a 275 HP 8 cylinder Lincoln – Owner – Dave Wrzesinski of Houghton Lake, M

Corrected. Now we need to talk about the squished boats. No we don’t. I just want to move on and talk about boating. BTW, You can click on this and print it out and stick it on the cover to fix it.


Making errors and a fool of myself is my thing. I have perfected being imperfect. NO ONE screws up more than I. Trust me, this is not one area you want to use from Woody Boater. Or sooner or later you will also using my editorial standards and business plan. Ya, that one is a doozy. Oh! And one more thing… HOW COME NO ONE TOLD ME ABOUT THAT SHOW? BOAT THE??? COME ON GREG! This event was in your own back yard.

We would been happy to help plug it!

16 replies
  1. Mike D
    Mike D says:

    I’m confused because all the photos on my screen show a 30′ Hacker Craft in the top photo and a 21′ Chris Craft in the middle photo. Is my screen a typo?

    • Dim
      Dim says:

      The issue is in the RESTORED vs PRESERVED. They’ve got them flip flopped. Boat description is correct.

  2. Jeff H
    Jeff H says:

    Squished pictures …. yes, I hate that. It’s sort of a rookie mistake to mess up the aspect ratio on a picture. I think that’s a bigger issue than the typo!

  3. Matt
    Matt says:

    Some of you may be wondering what aspect ratio is. ITS A MAJOR DESIGN THING. You are never. NEVER permitted to stretch logos and images. NO, NO, NO. If a printer did this crap, I would reject the job. Period. Far far worse than a typo. Because this was done on purpose. The problem is cramming three images on a page like this. This is where design comes in. THIS is the value of a good designer like Chris. You dont see it until you feel it. I have attached a simple solution that took around 10 minutes. A simple solution using the same text. I made the images correct, and pushed to the side where you open the book, thus driving you to want to open it. I also made the Directory type larger since it is what it is. I flushed the text to the right to also drive a direction for the eye. This is the exact same size, and same exact info and colors. I just moved stuff around. And yes, with Typos. Got to leave my mark! This wasnt done to taunt the ACBS, but more to illustrate that a good, or even weak designer like me can make crap fit in a motivating way.

  4. Dave Wrzesinski
    Dave Wrzesinski says:

    Thank you Matt for bringing this to peoples attention. For ACBS to basically ignore this mistake is a poor way for an organization who’s enrollment is in decline to bring new members in. It take a lot of money on the owners part and a lot of work on the shops part to win the awards that were won at the largest international show to date. At least an email could have been sent to the members describing and apologizing for this mistake.

  5. Texx
    Texx says:

    It’s helps a great deal to first start with high quality photos. The ACBS Directory once used beautiful, high quality (high resolution) images that were a joy to see – which are also much easier to edit for production. These look like low quality smart phone shots. Awful.

  6. Wilson
    Wilson says:

    Well Matt:…My wife who is the artist in the family agrees your work looks much more pleasing to the eye… As for me…I can rcognize a Chris Craft when I see one and the one on the directory cover just looked out of focus when I first saw it. Iknow, if you can’t say nuthin’ nice….but well facts are facts & so I said it.

  7. Lee Wangstad
    Lee Wangstad says:

    Well, dammit, you guys! Making budget means squeezing someplace, and making budget has become paramount. I would have thought that they would have found someplace else to squeeze rather than the boats on the cover. If I had done something like this while I was the editor of The Boathouse (BSLOL quarterly newsletter) I would still be feeling the insecurity today from the daily beatings I’d be getting from the local ruffians that actually noticed, and more importantly, cared. What makes me feel like a bigger fool is that I spent an extra ten bucks for what used to be a benefit of being a member, and received a directory graced with this cover.

    But hey, you know, at first I thought that it was a practical joke that Chris Eden was playing on me, you know, he doctored one up and sent me this one-of-kind directory, and only mine had this cover. My mind was going wild thinking of ways to joke back on him. Thanks for letting me know that mine wasn’t the only one like this. My brother had a printing company and he used to do this kind of thing to me all the time. I’m glad that I’ve got my mother’s sense of humor! I think that it’s hilarious. By the way, Matt, nice job on your rendition of the cover. Ten minutes? Man, I played with it for a half hour before I finally quit for lunch! I was very close to what you came up with, but it was still a little ragged. I have to think of it as having a high entertainment value; I’ve had a great time playing around with this. I hope that they will send me more fodder to keep my interest up.

  8. Chris Eden
    Chris Eden says:

    Well everyone. Just wanted to go on record here this is the first directory cover I have not done since the ACBS has had a directory. Guess it’s a learning curve for all now that they “don’t need me”. Thanks Matt for all your hard work here on the education front with regards to our world of design and everything that holds. Lee. FYI I would not do that to you. All your great work and archives deserve more than that.

    Thanks all. Chris Eden

  9. John Rothert
    John Rothert says:

    I think maybe I did the extra “tenbucktoo”…..

    why I am not sure…old school old fool….

    Going Boating…

    John in Va.

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